Hi, I'm Dan
A software engineer at Canva, I work on AI safety, privacy, and messaging compliance. Outside work I focus on how technology can combat gender-based violence: image provenance and detection for AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery, and AI used in family-violence contexts.
Before that it was Dolby and MoneyLoop. I have an education in Computer Science and Mechatronic Engineering.
Career
-
Canva
Software Engineer · Senior since 2024One of the key architects who built out the system for internal teams to send emails and push notifications for Canva. Embedded messaging compliance controls like GDPR regulations to ensure a safe experience for our users. Now working towards implementing AI safety and privacy measures across the Canva product.
-
Dolby Laboratories
Software EngineerRearchitected Dolby's API service layer, lifting reliability by around 80% and improving developer experience by 60%. Improved database optimisations which led to roughly 3x performance gains.
-
MoneyLoop
Software EngineerBuilt MoneyLoop's customer-facing website in React with a responsive design. Also dug into their internal Loan Management System and reduced page load times from 28 seconds down to 3.
Education
UNSW
A double degree: Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering (First Class Honours). Distinction average overall, and a 91 for the honours year.
What I care about
The people hurt most by AI tend to have the least power to push back, and non-consensual intimate imagery is the clearest case. AI made it cheap to produce, while most detection research still targets deepfakes in general. I work on provenance and detection tooling for it.
more on researchOutside the laptop
Away from the laptop I cook most nights, travel when I can, spend time in the garden (results vary), and read on technology and politics.
